1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operating system startup apparatus, and more specifically to a technology for reliably starting an operating system when exchange is performed of a system-resident volume.
2. Description of Related Art
When replacing a currently used computer with a new computer, there is a known method of eliminating the need to install an operating system, this being the method of re-installing the system-resident volume that is installed in the currently used computer into the new computer.
In the case in which the destination computer to which the system-resident volume is currently installed, is to be changed, in the past, the replacement operation was performed with the operator taking into consideration the position (location) of the operating system in the system-resident volume.
That is, if the boot path that is recognized by the destination computer differs from the position of the operating system in the system-resident volume, it will not be possible to boot the operating system at the destination computer.
As a result, if both are different, what is done for example is that the boot path information that indicates the position of the operating system in the system-resident volume is stored in a backup memory of the destination computer, so that there is coincidence between the boot path recognized by the computer and the location of the operating system in the system-resident volume.
In the above-described technology, however, the following problems exist.
The first problem is that of the burden placed on the operator at the time the system-resident volume is exchanged.
The reason for this is that, in the case in which the location of the operating system in the system-resident volume differs from the boot path recognized by the destination computer, it is necessary to store into a backup memory of the computer boot path information corresponding to the actual position of the operating system.
The second problem is that there are cases in which it is not possible to boot the operating system after replacement of the system-resident volume. The reason for this is that, because the boot path information is stored by an operator, there are cases in which erroneous boot path information is stored.